What the heck is NatureMapping? NatureMapping is students studying nature and record what they see. The students of Mrs. Gibson and Mrs. Cassidy's eighth grade science classes at Chase Middle School went outside in the months of April and May to record plants and wildlife. They recorded everything from birds to flowers. When asked about Nature Mapping, Amber Tate had this to say, "It helps you learn more about the environment while having fun outdoors." But what does the principal know about all of this?
Surprisingly, Mr. Andes knew a lot about NatureMapping. When he heard about the NatureMapping project from Mrs. Gibson and Mrs. Cassidy at the beginning of the year, his first reaction was that it was great. He had seen a similar project at the school he was at last year in Bellingham. There, the students were involved with service learning. Service learning is basically a hands on activity in which students provide service to the community. The students a Chase perform service learning by identifying issues in the environment and recording observations of nature. The data collected by Mrs. Gibson and Mrs. Cassidy's classes will be sent to the University of Washington for an analysis of the bird and plant populations in Washington State and also how habitat loss affects them.
NatureMapping is a great form of service learning. Mr. Andes thinks that it is great to be learning while doing community service, not just learning about the outdoors from inside the classroom. Nature Mapping encourages Chase students to be more than just average middle school students. The students at Chase took class time to go outside and research their community. It shows that students here care about the community and how it will be preserved for future generations.
Jordan Gainey, Sarah Smith, and Allison Tenold
"I just got hooked!" said NatureMapper Jan Reynolds about her favorite hobby. She was twenty-three years old, when she and her husband went mountain climbing and saw lots of wildlife.
by Matt Grebe